Catherine Kramer Wrapped Up Week 4 with Champion Title in the Junior Hunter 3’3” 15 & Under Division at WEF

February 6, 2019

Week 4 of the 2019 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) came to a close on Sunday with one final day of top hunter, jumper, and equitation competition. The Junior Hunter 3’3” 15 & Under competitors returned to the E.R. Mische Grand Hunter Field to contest in an under saddle and two over fences rounds to determine who the week’s division champion would be. After a brief “hack-off” between her and a fellow competitor tied for champion points, Catherine Kramer of Carmel, IN ultimately took the lead with her own Casares.

Following the jog, Kramer and Sienna Pilla closed out the final rounds of competition on the same amount of points and the two riders were asked to re-mount their horses for a short “hack-off”. The two pairs would once again display the three under-saddle gaits to the judge in order to determine which horse appeared to be the more correct mover. After several laps in each direction, both riders were directed to turn back to the line-up where Kramer and the 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Casares, were named champion. The pair earned placings of first, two thirds, and eleventh over fences as well as first in the “hack-off”.

Kramer only paired with Casares in November of last year but immediately was looking forward to bringing him to Wellington for the season.

“This is my second season at WEF, and I love everything about it,” she said. “ Everyone is so nice and the divisions are extremely well put-together; it’s definitely my favorite.”

Kramer will stay for the duration of the season to continue competition on Casares as well as her two other horses before making her way to Junior Hunter Finals.

Megan Winkhaus’s Satellite, a 16-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Sandro Hit x Priscilla) took home a first, second, fourth, and seventh as well as second in the “hack-off” to end as the week’s reserve champions.